Darkness Unmasked

Our Review, by LITERAL ADDICTION's Pack Alpha - Michelle L. Olson:
*ARC received from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review

Keri Arthur has woven another compelling web of action, intrigue, mystery and suspense with Darkness Unmasked!

Being a chronic reader, it is my personal opinion that one of the highest compliments a book can receive is when it doesn't matter what you should be doing, you'd rather be reading. And an even greater testament to the utter captivating nature of the tale when that statement is turned to action, wherein everything in 'real life' is pushed aside for the opportunity to be totally immersed in the magic of the story. This series has done that to me 5 times over now - the outside world simply disappears show more when I have a DARK ANGELS book in hand, and I don't move until that last incredible page is turned...

This release is slightly darker and grittier than the previous installments. There's just as much action, but the violence is more intense, the villainy more sinister, and the emotions more raw. The romance is slightly different as well. It was simply written, leaving much to the imagination.

With the journey this series has taken it is almost impossible to write a plot driven review without spoilers, and because I don't do that, I will simply tell you that while a lot of series start to lag at the 5 book mark, somehow I feel like this thrill-ride is just getting started. There was a quote that about sums things up: Risa is at the climax of the story and is told, "Be careful, Risa Jones, there are more games being played than you realize." :). I'll also say that the twists that were introduced in this part of the story arc were diabolical in their brilliance & served to just further the emotional bond that Keri has been able to forge between her characters and the reader, as well as the characters themselves. No other books elicit the type of emotional response that these do for me; I always feel like I'm right there with them, and every single book has become a new favorite, leaving me emotionally spent and yet only wanting more.

Darkness Unmasked easily scored another 5 Skull rating from me. I highly recommend it, and the entire DARK ANGELS series - to everyone. These books have everything you want in a perfectly written Urban Fantasy - strong and well developed characters, superb world building, suspense and mystery with plenty of surprises, heart pumping action and intrigue, and just enough romance and witty dialogue to smooth out the edges. show less

This 5th book in the Dark Angels series continues the back story of Risa, a half Aedh energy being and half Helki werewolf, attempting to discover the keys that can open up the portals between the realms. This is something she’d prefer were never found, but her friends’ lives are threatened if she doesn’t. Her relationship with Azriel, the reaper tasked with helping her, takes a dramatic turn in more ways than one.

But of course Madeline Hunter, head of the Directorate and leading member of the vampire council still has a hold on Risa and orders her to investigate the gruesome death of Hunter’s lover. The new threat is a dark spirit who takes on the form of a spider – and it needs food to breed. And in this story we see just show more how scary and powerful Hunter can be.

And there are other things that occur that will have a great impact on upcoming stories. And one great piece of good news is that Risa discovers who killed her mother and why. There are a number of sex scenes, but most of them aren’t especially detailed. Although we do experience how reapers have sex via energy. That one is very detailed, and wow.

Get ready for a ride because there is a lot going on and a lot for Risa to deal with; plenty of action and danger as well as a wide range of emotions. Risa is ever evolving; something that works to her advantage in some cases, but is also scaring her and I can appreciate her character more because of it. Readers of the Riley Jensen series will be happy to see some face time with Riley, Rhoan and Quinn.

The prior book was beginning to feel somewhat stagnant. This story really shakes things up. Do not try to read this if you haven’t read the prior books in the series. It won’t work well as a standalone book. Start with Darkness Unbound. show less

Really sick of the rape. World's decent, characters are decent, but I *seriously* do not need rape as an ongoing plot device.

These books run one right after another never letting Risa catch her breath. This one has Risa doing two jobs one for Hunter and on is the hunt for the second key. Lucian now is a bad guy in this book and Risa also finds out about another player in the vampire council struggle. At this point in the series I find the hunt for the keys a bit boring and rather see her work on cases or find out more about her friends and their powers. Of course there is relationship drama and some really poor handling of rape scenes. At least through all of this she finds out who has killed her mother. The down side is she finds out almost by accident and with any help from Hunter or some new clue that she discovers.

Once upon a time, I had to DNF-ed this book but I have to read it because I have the next book as an arc. It was a difficult book to read now that there was some revelation about a character I had predicted would be the big bad but if you've read Riley Jenson series and know about what happen to Riley's werewolf mate, this book probably another reincarnation that rank up next to that. Keyword : Rape. This time it was not as subtle as the previous books does. If the subtle pissed you off, well...

Truthfully, I was tired with this series. It was another who-dun-it plot with Risa. This time, she had to solve a murder involving Hunter's lover who had his inside suck up until all that was left was a dry husk. It would have been tolerable had show more we didn't have the same detective work in the last few books. If Risa was a supernatural bounty hunter or a guardian like Riley, it might made sense why she should investigate all these but she was a restaurant owner, a rich kid and drive a Ducatti all around the place who just happen to have demon busting moves and the girl everyone need to find all those hellgate keys. I wish the series was all about the actual keys rather than it being a subplot. For the only one person who could find the keys, she sure had a lot of people stealing them whenever she found them.

This book suffered a middle of the series slump. There was no character progression that differentiate the character motivation from the previous books. Of course, something happen to the main character and all hell break loose but it was another round of drama between Risa and Azriel with some shocking revelations in the end. It was predictable and unattractive. Sadly, I don't have a book contract for a long series but I know the sound of an author struggling to end a stale series. show less

Very gritty, Risa endures much this time around, I like seeing her and Azrael's relationship progressing.